The club blamed an "unfavourable investment climate" on the move, halting plans for a 60,000 seat redevelopment of Stamford Bridge stadium.

The Premier League club was awarded permission to construct a new £500 million stadium on the current site, next to Fulham Broadway station, in early 2017, with the condition that construction must begin within three years.

However, in a statement on the Chelsea FC website on Thursday (May 31), it was announced that the stadium plans have been placed on hold.

"Chelsea Football Club announces today that it has put its new stadium project on hold. No further pre-construction design and planning work will occur," a statement released on the club's official website read.

Artist's impression: What the new Stamford Bridge would look like (Image: Hammersmith & Fulham Council/Chelsea FC)

"The club does not have a time frame set for reconsideration of its decision. The decision was made due to the current unfavourable investment climate."

Roman Abramovich had planned to relocate the club temporarily to Wembley Stadium during the four-year construction period, as Tottenham has done while White Hart Lane stadium is being built.

However plans by Fulham FC owner and American billionaire Shahid Khan to buy Wembley Stadium from the FA called the temporary move into question.

Blues fans will no longer need to worry however, as it appears Chelsea will continue to play at Stamford Bridge for the foreseeable future.

Render created by computer scientist and Chelsea fanatic Neil Vano of what the stadium would look like inside (Image: UGC TMS)

While its current capacity of 41,631 makes it the eighth largest stadium in the Premier League, other London clubs including Arsenal at the Emirates and West Ham at the London Stadium all have much bigger home venues.

Tottenham's new ground, which is set to open later this year, is also set to dwarf Stamford Bridge.

The stadium took its design queues from Westminster Cathedral and was designed by Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, who created the Beijing Olympic Bird’s Nest Stadium.

Chelsea's vision for the new Stamford Bridge is on hold (Image: Herzog & de Meuron/Chelsea FC)

Decking platforms would have been built over the District Line to the north-west and over the Southern rail line to the east.

Once completed, pedestrians would have be able to walk to the ground on match days from Fulham Broadway Station and Fulham Road, with motorists able to access the site via Wansdown Place.